For those who might not know, following a week after the Russia-Ukraine wheat embargo, there are even bigger and ominous signs hinting at global food insecurity and the catastrophic agricultural crises coming our way.
India last week banned export on all non-basmati rice varieties.
I repeat: EXPORT BAN ON ALL non-basmati RICE varieties.
[Aside: export of basmati variety will continue, the demand for which is relatively small in India when compared to the nearly 15 major varieties of rice (it's home to at least a 1000 varieties) consumed by very large populations everyday(these are the ones which are now banned). Basmati is a "festive" and only occasionally consumed variety in India. It is largely exported to the richer nations, many of whom think it is the only variety of rice from India.]
Why is India banning rice now?
Answer: global warming.
What’s happening in India (and South Asia at large) should both terrify you and wake you up
Here’s more (facts? trivia? bothersome news? how the world actually works?).
Activists across #SouthAsia had been loudly warning back-to-back climate disasters can permanently end harvests:
“The agricultural economy in all districts..is now three short crops in succession. Matured rice crops were swept away when the fields flooded in July, but over the next three months (i.e. Jul-Sep), we used to sow and harvest maize. Hopes for both crops are now gone.”
India's heatwave is the longest ever to hit the country, the government's top weather expert said Monday as he warned people will face increasingly oppressive temperatures. Parts of northern India have been gripped by a heatwave since mid-May, with temperatures soaring over 45 degrees Celsius. "This has been the longest spell...
Brilliant article on the challenges facing transition to renewables, and why its unlikely
"while the cost of renewable power is now lower than that of fossil fuels, renewables are not a profitable business. The particularities of the .. market structure are the causal factors here... Making sure that capital gets its pound of flesh has crippled the country."
Hello Mastadon, the @mahsa_project finally have an account!
At MAHSA, we are detecting, documenting and monitoring #heritage and #archaeology in the #Indus Basin region. We are using a combination of #historic maps, #satelliteimagery, and past data to locate sites that are under threat but also those that have already been lost.
All of this data will go into free to use, open access and searchable #databases to be used by researchers internationally but especially in #SouthAsia.
Bangladesh is battling its worst dengue outbreak on record, with more than 600 people killed and 135,000 cases reported since April, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, as one of its experts blamed the climate crisis and El Nino weather pattern for driving the surge....
" #Pakistan's climate emergency is unfolding like a horror movie where each scene is more frightening than the last. We are constantly lurching from one climate disaster to another, with no time to step back"
The government set a minimum export price (MEP) of $1,200 a tonne on basmati rice shipments in a move aimed at reining in domestic prices ahead of elections in key states. The move came a day after it imposed a 20% duty on non-basmati parboiled rice exports, effective immediately....
Well referenced article by a thinktank based in #Pakistan summarizing the mechanism for #ClimateChange derived food inflation being observed in the country.
Doesn't add anything new except the fact none of the listed issues are predictions - they are observations and cited.
#ClimateCrisis is here, and as in the Global North, farmers/gardeners can see it clearly, but the rest barely.
On #ClimateChange and the #UrbanHeatIsland effect in developing countries blindly following the American style of "development", personal stories from people trying to cope with these both climate and architecturally magnified heatwaves.
We got married in our home town of #Lahore last Sunday & decided to use the opportunity of our friends & family gathered under one smog-filled sky to raise awareness about the #ClimateCrisis & platform local climate activists.
Its going to take time to get our own snaps sorted, but heres a thread of the highlights with links to sites/socials:
We invited local #ClimateChange activists, who have worked themselves on projects locally with minimal recognition and support, to our #ClimateWedding. We shared their work in our wedding newspaper, and in an exhibit at the venue. We are immensely thankful to them. Link’s to their social media posts below.
We know this is not a solution anymore but it is still the most basic action most of us can undertake ourselves, so at the wedding, we gifted citrus tree saplings (and rose plants) to our guests to take home and grow. We weren’t sure if any would take up the offer so ordered just enough for each family and…
When Sri Lanka's economy crashed in 2022, people sought work abroad wherever they could find it -- including ex-soldiers who joined forces fighting in Ukraine after Russia's invasion....
"The ‘rooftop #solar conundrum’ is another issue, where increased tariffs have spurred demand for rooftop panels, leading to a decline in demand from the national grid.
...contribute to the ‘capacity payment conundrum’, ..purchasing agreements obligate the gov to make payments even when plants are not generating electricity."
"n K-P, the consequences of #GlobalWarming and #ClimateChange are evident in the changing of the #monsoon season, which now falls at a time when the #strawberry cash crop, a speciality of Charsadda, is to be cultivated."
".. unusual rains .. destroyed approximately 80 per cent of the fruit’s crop, leaving farmers in a deplorable state... "
Editorial in Dawn - Pakistan's oldest English Daily:
"The writing is on the wall. The time for incremental steps is over. The scale of the challenge requires bold, decisive actions that reflect the urgency of the moment."
As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to jobs and religion, the residents of a tiny, ecologically sensitive island have only one concern: Survival. As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to...
"Massive modern port projects across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean in the twenty-first century are where anxieties about the global economy, state sovereignty, and climate change converge."
Special issue of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East on #ports in #SouthAsia
India's heatwave longest ever, worse to come (www.news24.com)
India's heatwave is the longest ever to hit the country, the government's top weather expert said Monday as he warned people will face increasingly oppressive temperatures. Parts of northern India have been gripped by a heatwave since mid-May, with temperatures soaring over 45 degrees Celsius. "This has been the longest spell...
Kerala headed for a drought-like situation after 4 continuous years of heavy rain, landslides, floods (thesouthfirst.com)
The lack of rain and increasing heat has severely affected power generation and agricultural activities in the state.
Bangladesh's worst ever dengue outbreak a 'canary in the coal mine' for climate crisis, WHO expert warns (edition.cnn.com)
Bangladesh is battling its worst dengue outbreak on record, with more than 600 people killed and 135,000 cases reported since April, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, as one of its experts blamed the climate crisis and El Nino weather pattern for driving the surge....
Indian Government puts Basmati rice under minimum export price, following curbs to non-Basmati (www.livemint.com)
The government set a minimum export price (MEP) of $1,200 a tonne on basmati rice shipments in a move aimed at reining in domestic prices ahead of elections in key states. The move came a day after it imposed a 20% duty on non-basmati parboiled rice exports, effective immediately....
The 'duped' Sri Lankans fighting in Russia's Ukraine war (www.news.com.au)
When Sri Lanka's economy crashed in 2022, people sought work abroad wherever they could find it -- including ex-soldiers who joined forces fighting in Ukraine after Russia's invasion....
For Ghoramara islanders, India election is about climate change and survival (www.reuters.com)
As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to jobs and religion, the residents of a tiny, ecologically sensitive island have only one concern: Survival. As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to...